Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“Revelations that a Sinn Fein MLA, former MLA and the party failed to return £30,000, received from the Covid business support fund, until the BBC Nolan Show flushed them out, is reminiscent of how the same party creamed off £700,000 of taxpayers money into the Sinn Fein front organisation, Research Services Ireland Ltd.
“Mr McHugh’s “defence” is pathetic. He acknowledges he knew he had received the money but the account holders had difficulty returning it! Really?
“This in itself raises the question of how his office account is controlled and by whom?
“As an MLA he is supposed to be subject to a Code of Conduct which, inter alia, requires him to act in the interests of the community as a whole; not act in order to gain financial or other material benefits for himself or associates; support these principles by leadership and example in order to establish and maintain the trust and confidence of the people of Northern Ireland.
“By allowing the money to rest in his account for over six months it seems to me Mr McHugh is in flagrant breach of the MLA Code of Conduct. Accordingly, I have asked the Commissioner for Standards to investigate.
“This appalling behaviour comes, of course, at a time when many, including many of Sinn Féin’s constituency, are struggling to cope and yet the richest party in Ireland thinks it appropriate to retain for months public money it knew it ought never to have received.
“Sinn Féin’s lack of integrity knows no bounds.”